Track Sixteen
Daniela's POV
The Beautiful Chaos tour starts loud.
Crowds.
Press.
Outfits.
Soundchecks.
Adrenaline.
Daniela is glowing.
But exhaustion creeps in fast.
Time zones blur.
Her phone is constantly dying.
Group chats are chaos.
Managers are hovering.
You two still text.
But now it's:
Dani: Just got to the venue.
Y/N: Kill it.
Dani: I'm so tired.
Y/N: Get some rest.
Supportive. But surface level. She tells herself it's fine. But then something shifts completely. One night after a show in Washington, adrenaline still buzzing through her, she FaceTimes you from the hotel hallway.
She's sweaty. Makeup half gone. Still in glam.
"You should've seen it tonight," she says, breathless. "They were screaming during my part."
You smile — genuinely.
"I bet."
"Bet?" she repeats.
"Yeah. You always do good." It's not wrong. It's just... flat. She notices. "You don't sound excited."
"I am." "You just sound tired."
You hesitate.
"I had a long session."
There's a beat. "I sent you that clip earlier," she says carefully. "Did you watch it?"
You didn't. Not fully.
You saw the notification.
You meant to.
You forgot.
"Yeah," you lie softly. She knows. The silence stretches. She nods once. "Okay." And for the first time since this started...
She feels alone in it. Not abandoned. Not betrayed. Just... slightly unmatched. They hang up politely. No fight. Which somehow feels worse.
Back at the Hotel, she sits on her bed staring at the ceiling.
Manon notices immediately. "You good?"
Daniela shrugs. "Yeah." "That was not a yeah." Daniela exhales. "I think they're starting to detach." Manon doesn't react dramatically.
"What makes you say that?"
"They're supportive. But... distant. Like they're trying not to care too much."
Manon nods slowly. "And do they have a reason to be scared?"
Daniela doesn't answer right away. "Yeah," she admits. "They do."
"Okay," Manon says gently. "Then don't punish them for being afraid. But don't shrink yourself either."That one sticks.
Meanwhile — Your POV
You're sitting in your car outside the studio replaying that call.
You hate that she noticed. You hate that you lied. You hate that you didn't watch the clip.
Not because you don't care. Because you care too much.
You open Instagram. There she is. Clips from the show everywhere. Crowd screaming. Spotlight on her. She looks unreal. And something ugly creeps in your chest. Not jealousy. Displacement.
She belongs to something big right now. Where do you fit in that? You almost text her. You don't. You decide: Give her space. Don't be clingy. You think you're being mature. She reads it as distance. Classic.
Three days later.
She doesn't call you after the show. You notice. You don't text first either. You're both waiting. Finally, she sends:
Dani: Busy?
You stare at it. You could say yes. You're not.
You: Nah.
Three dots.
Dani: Oh. Okay.
That's when it hits you. She sounds smaller. And that's never how she sounds. You call immediately.
She answers after two rings.
"You okay?" you ask.
"I'm fine."
She's not.
"Talk to me."
There's a long pause. "I just need to know you're still here," she says finally. "Because lately it feels like you're bracing for impact." That one lands directly in your chest.
You close your eyes. "I didn't watch your clip," you admit quietly.
Silence. "I know." "I've been... pulling back." you say "I know that too."
You swallow.
"I don't wanna disappear. I just don't know how to exist in your world when it gets loud."
Her voice softens instantly. "You don't have to compete with loud. You just have to stay."
She hangs up after you mentioned being tired, that not being a lie but just also needing a way to get off the phone.
And that's when something shifts in you. Not panic. Decision.
Ik this one is extremely short, only because i kind of want the next part to be really long so im just kind tryna get the little ideas out now. but i promise im tryna lock in.